Province to begin installing cable barriers on deadly 401 stretch

Two major installation projects expected to be complete by 2021

The installation of cable barriers on the Highway 401 median between London and Tilbury will take four years, the Ministry of Transportation says.

Ontario’s new transportation minister announced last week that the provincial government will install concrete median barriers on the 136-kilometre stretch west of London.

But the safety feature supporters say will prevent deadly crossover crashes such as one in August that killed a London woman and her five-year-old daughter will take years to build.

In the meantime, the province will begin this year to install hightension cable barriers.

Half the stretch between London and Tilbury is expected to have a cable barrier by the end of 2018, according to information Postmedia obtained from the Ministry of Transportation.

“The ministry has worked to accelerate contracts that will include the installation of high-tension cable median barriers on upcoming contracts along Highway 401 starting in 2018,” the ministry said in an email.

The installation plan will begin in Chatham-Kent in conjunction with planned work on reconstructing the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 from east of Drake Road to east of Charing Cross Road, and from west of Mull Road to west of Victoria Road, the ministry said.

“That work will also include installing high-tension cable barriers within the 15-metre-wide grass median from Tilbury easterly to the Victoria Road interchange in Chatham-Kent, for a total length of approximately 50 kilometres,” the ministry said.

This construction is expected to be finished by 2020.

Another contract will include installing the cable barrier on a 48.4-kilometre stretch from Victoria Road in Chatham-Kent to Iona Road in Elgin County. The ministry said this contract will be advertised next month with the entire 48.4 kilometres of barrier being installed this year.

“Under this plan, barriers will be installed on approximately 55 per cent (67.7 km) of the corridor by the end of 2018,” the ministry said. “The remaining 45 per cent will be installed over the next three years with the high-tension cable system completed by the end of 2021.”

The ministry said widening the highway to six lanes and building a concrete median barrier is significantly more expensive than installing the high-tension cable barrier.

The ministry hasworkedto accelerate contracts that will include the installation of high-tension cable median barriers on upcoming contracts along Highway 401.

“The ministry is able to achieve highly effective safety improvements very fast with high-tension cable median barrier and minimize the time the median is exposed to crossover collisions.”

A grassroots push for concrete median barriers began after Sarah Payne, 42, and her daughter, Freya, 5, of London were killed Aug. 29 in a crossover crash near Dutton, west of London.

The campaign included a petition tabled last fall at Queen’s Park and the Twitter hashtag #BuildTheBarrier.